Blink of an Eye (episode)
Over time and generations, a world tries to uncover the mystery of a strange object in the sky. Summary [[USS Voyager|USS Voyager]] approaches a planet rotating 58 times per minute and, while investigating, the ship enters a gravimetric gradient pulling it into an orbit in which the crew becomes trapped. The tachyon core of the planet has created a differential in space-time, meaning that time passes much more quickly on the planet than in the rest of space. Within "moments" of Voyager's arrival and entrapment many years have passed on the surface. The initial entry into orbit coincides with an earthquake interpreted by the inhabitants as an act of a new deity, the Voyager ship appearing as a new bright star in the sky. Chakotay asks B'Elanna Torres to reconfigure a Class-5 Probe to take pictures every 10 milliseconds, and to take surveys of the planet to help try to get voyager out of orbit. Chakotay goes on to say that this could be the best Anthropology find ever. It is one thing to dig and find the history, but to watch the civilization develop before your eyes is another thing entirely. B'Elanna express doubts that there was a civilization on the planet, saying it could die out before the probe was ready. Chakotay reassures her that he will just wait till the next civilization develops. As time passes, the planet's inhabitants quickly change from a pre-medieval level of technology to enter an industrial age and gain technology to the point where radio transmissions are possible. The scientist that has made first contact with Voyager explains to a fellow scientist that the Sky Ship, the name planet's inhabitants have given Voyager, is a prominent feature of all the planet's culture. The scientist states that he even had the entire collection of sky ship friends dolls. A message is received from the surface by Seven of Nine which tells the crew of their insinuation into the culture and mythology of the planet's people. For centuries the society lives with the constant ground-shaking effect brought about by Voyager and its effects on the natural poles and rotation of the planet. Cautious about first contact with a pre-warp civilization and aware of the accelerated aging causing by the time differential, Captain Janeway employs the Doctor to beam to the planet on an undercover mission to gather data in an effort to find a way for Voyager to escape orbit. As Janeway and B'Elanna Torres prepare to beam him back, the signal is lost. By the time the Doctor is successfully located and beamed back on board, three years have passed on the planet. He explains that Voyager is a catalyst for invention and that a space race is in progress to make contact. Voyager is also used as a catalyst for religion, music, and even children toys. He tells the captain that his roommate, which he shared an apartment with, even made a symphony about Voyager. He said the apartment was destroyed by a rival state's cannon shells, when they started a war with the one he was in. The Doctor goes on to explain that the war was finished in 6 months when a new treaty was signed. He also informs Janeway that he has committed to memory the last three hundred years geological data from the planet. With the use the Doctor's data, the crew attempts an escape but after only 50 meters of ascent seismic activity increases and the exercise is aborted. In the meantime, a space capsule from the planet surface reaches Voyager and the two visitors find the crew in what appears to be some form of stasis. The time differential causes them to see microseconds on board the ship. As they reach the bridge, they enter Voyager's time-frame and collapse, to the surprise of the bridge crew. One of the pilots does not survive the transition. The surviving pilot tells of how he has grown up always knowing of the Sky Ship. Although every minute spent aboard means years pass on the surface he agrees to help the crew interpret the Doctor's data and find a way to break orbit. As Seven scans the surface she detects warp experimentation. Soon after, Voyager is being attacked by antimatter torpedoes and a tricobalt device. The pilot returns to his planet with specifications of Voyager, with Janeway hoping he can convince his planet's rulers to stop the attacks and help them leave orbit. After more attacks and a planet's year since the pilot returned, two ships appear next to Voyager and deploy a tractor beam to pull it clear. Using a temporal compensator invented on his planet, the pilot returns one last time to say goodbye before the sky ship leaves forever. The pilot is shown as an old man sitting by the temple, looking up into the sky as the star that is Voyager winks out and vanishes. A tear runs down the pilot's cheek as the Sky Ship leaves his world. Background Information * This episode was being prepped for shooting under the title when production realized that there was already a TOS episode by that name. Furthering the coincidence, both stories feature aliens existing at a much faster rate who visit the ship and see the slower crew apparently "frozen". * Obi Ndefo previously played Drex, Martok's son, in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season four premiere . * One day on the planet is slightly more than one second long (1.03 seconds) in normal time, so three years on the planet would only be 18.9 minutes in normal time. * This episode contains a scene in which a member of an alien species writes in English using a pen and ink. This is unusual considering most alien writing depicted in Star Trek is made up of alien-looking characters. * Although Tuvok describes the planet as having a high rate of rotation "like a quasar", this property more accurately describes a pulsar. * The story for this episode bears a vague resemblance to Robert L. Forward's novel Dragon's Egg, also about a high-speed alien civilization that develops from tribal savagery to spacefaring over the course of a visit by a human spacecraft. Links and References Guest Stars *Melik Malkasian as Shaman *Walter H. McCready as Tribal Alien *Obi Ndefo as Kelemane *Olaf Pooley as Cleric *Daniel Zacapa as Astronomer *Jon Cellini as Technician *Daniel Dae Kim as Gotana-Retz *Kat Sawyer-Young as Tureena *Tarik Ergin as Ayala (uncredited) *Scarlett Pomers as Naomi Wildman References altar; ammounium; amplitude modulation; anthropolgy; antimatter torpedo; astronomy; cannon; carbon monoxide; carrier wave; Central Protectorate; Class V planetary probe; concert hall; confinement beam; docking port; doppler component; Doric; dsiplay buffer; dwarf star; elemental constant; fire fruit; god; gravimetric gradient; "Ground Shaker"/"Sky Ship"; holomatrix; hot-air balloon; internal combustion; iron; Jason Tebreeze; Kelemane's planet; Kelemane's planet sport; Kelemane's species; Kelemane, son of Kelemane; Lakeside; Launch Control/Tactical Command Center; Mareeza; mathematics; Mountain (team); multiple-choice exam; mythology; observatory; opera house; orbit; ''Orbital 1''; Prime Directive; prime number; Protector; protoplasm; quasar; radio transmission; Red River; Sky Ship Friends; Station 004; tachyon; Tactical Air Command; Tahal; technology; telescope; temporal compensator; Torelius; tricobalt device; Tureena; ultra-high frequency; weather coordinator; |next= }} Category:VOY episodes de:Es geschah in einem Augenblick fr:Blink of an Eye nl:Blink of an Eye